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leos-regression-cove · 1 year

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Nothing in the Parenting Books Prepared Me For This

Chapter 65: Loki and Sylvie's First Birthday

Synopsis: After a night of partying and loud celebration, Loki and Sylvie spend their real birthday being small and having a snuggle with their daddy and Thor.

Word count: 4,228

Stand Alone?: Yep!

Warnings: Sylvie's abandonment issues, alcohol mention, Sylkius shipping implications (outside of regression)

Notes: No plot, just vibes sort of writing on this one lads.

Read it on AO3!

Loki woke on the morning of December seventeenth with the biggest, happiest, grin on his face, no hangover to be seen, and a little headspace so strong, it probably could have defeated Thor in a game of tug-of-war. He wiggled with joy, much to the annoyance of Sylvie, who was still taken by sleep beside him.

The previous night had been long and full of the delights that Loki had so often prided himself with on Asgard; downing Mezcal and drinks by the bottle, in loud, strobing clubs with blaring music. Sylvie joined in her fair share with the partying and booze, and many friends came along on the ride, with Mobius as part designated driver, part Loki wrangler.

After not finding the plush body of Mobius within reach, he got up. “Daddy?” he asked, peeking around corners and in increasingly unlikely places like the crawlspace under the floor and the linen closet, or under beds and on top of shelves.

“It’s just me,” Thor said from the couch.

Loki hadn’t even noticed him. “Where daddy?” he asked.

“He went out to get a very special surprise for both of you.”

“What, What, What!?” Loki half-asked-half-exclaimed.

“I can’t tell you!” Thor told him.

Loki checked Thor’s brain, but realized fast that the truth was, Thor did not know.

“Um, what doing?” he asked, changing the subject, “is birfday!” he made sure to remind Thor.

“I’m well aware it’s your birthday, little brother” Thor reassured the little, pausing and setting down his game. “And which birthday would it be?”

Loki held up 2 fingers, at first, but set down one cautiously.

“Your first birthday?”

Loki confirmed, sticking his hand in his mouth.

“That must be very exciting.”

Changing the little this morning was no easy task, but Thor managed to slip the baby into a thick diaper and a snappy onesie which Loki had made himself with magic. “My 1st Birthday” was written in big green letters on the front.

“Seevee! Seevee!” Loki squeaked. As soon as he was freed from the seat of the changing table, he toddled back to the master bedroom to see if he’d have a mummy or a big sister, or perhaps even a little or a twin sister today.

She mumbled and swatted him away.

That wasn’t helpful.

“Birfday, Seevee!” he explained.

The normally early riser seemed to be too exhausted from last night to care.

She mumbled a little grunt of exasperated frustration in response to Loki and her own hungry belly not letting her ignore the delightful smell of cooking eggs and meat.

“Seevee!” Loki nuzzled into her like an excitable puppy in an attempt to get her up.

She gently kicked him in the backside as she began to get up.

“Birfday!” he reminded her.

Thumb in her mouth as she got up, hair tousled by a rough night, she silently let Loki lead her out to the kitchen to see what Thor was doing.

“Good morning, princess Sylvie,” he greeted her while plating her breakfast. “We’re going to need two highchairs this morning, aren’t we?” He questioned while plating their breakfasts.

He set up the second chair and set Sylvie into it before tightening the straps on Loki’s and securing him in as well.

The littles used their hands to feed themselves handfuls of scrambled eggs, pinches of hashbrowns, and bacon strips.

Sylvie, as she recovered, began to become more chatty like Loki, pointing down at the empty spot at the table. “Where daddy?” she asked.

“Dunno,” Loki told her, and oh boy, was that the wrong answer.

The little girl’s face immediately twisted and went red. This was the first birthday she’d remember and Mobius wasn’t even going to show up for it?

“Little sunshine,” Thor got her attention, getting up from his seat and setting her tray down onto the table so he could pick her up, “your daddy only left a few minutes before Loki woke, and promised he was just picking something up for you. A special birthday surprise, I promise,” he nurtured, kissing her gently on the cheek and bouncing her in his arms just lightly until she was a little less red and much less sobby.

She finally continued working on her breakfast, and to both of the littles’ delight, Mobius soon came into the home with a white box in hand. He showed it off to them without opening it and watched as their faces lit up and any panic from the morning was forgiven.

“Roxxcart was short staffed this morning,” he apologized, before sitting down with Thor and the birthday littles for a slightly cold breakfast.

“Hey, do you two know what I found while I was out?” Mobius asked, while sitting on the floor with the two littles. Loki was positioned in his lap, hugging him, but Sylvie was independently building her own palace of blocks. “Take a look at this.” He reached under one of Loki’s thighs in order to get to his pocket.

Loki peeked his head up to see what the movement was and made a squeaky babble noise as Mobius showed the little ones a small jar of fluid.

“Do you know what these are?” he asked.

Sylvie stopped what she was doing to crawl closer and try to grab the plastic bottle out of his hands.

“I got you guys some bubbles.”

“Bubbas!” Loki repeated.

“Yeah, and we can play with them outside, if you want.” He picked Loki up without waiting for a solid yes or no. “Probably need to give you two stinkers a change anyway.”

Loki giggled. “No! No stinky.”

“Oh no?” Mobius chuckled. “How’s she?” he asked Thor.

Thor rolled Sylvie over, unsnapping her onesie, and giving her a check before a couple of belly raspberries.

The little girl kicked and wiggled with tiny squeals in response. When Thor pulled away from her, the response she gave was to reach up for him, and politely request to be picked up.

“I can see from here birthday girl’s about to spring a leak, better give her here.”

“Dada n’ --o Tor!” she babbled.

“You want Thor?”

“M--ah!”

“Well, you heard her.”

Thor chuckled as he brought Sylvie into his arms. She was so deep in her headspace, he wasn’t sure if there was any big girl even left behind those eyes, but she seemed happy and content, so it was more of a reassurance than a worry. He hummed to her as he set her down on the changing table and started a small mobile above her head as he clicked and tightened the security strap around her midsection.

After Thor rolled up and tossed the soggy diaper in the bin, Mobius was led into the room by a toddling, but very determined looking Loki.

Sylvie shrieked with excitement and giggled as Loki leaned over the table and kissed her on the cheek in that babyish way that was really half a raspberry with a “m’uh!” noise.

“I couldn’t keep him occupied without some toys,” Mobius smiled. “We set up the play pen out there for ‘em but that’s not going to be enough alone.” He was speaking more to himself than anyone else. He didn’t even pause as Thor handed him Sylvie, redressed and re-diapered.

She grabbed at his mustache leading him to plant a second kiss on her cheek with his own little “mwah,” just to make her laugh even more, and to make Loki smile at the mimicry as he politely asked Thor to pick him up, too.

Mobius set Sylvie on the floor while Thor strapped Loki down.

“Do you want to trade places? Let me take diaper duty and help Sylvie put together some toys to take outside?”

“Nah, I’ve got it,” Thor said before moving Loki’s legs into a more convenient position, for minimal kicking.

Loki stuck his fingers in his mouth as he watched Mobius prep some outdoor toys, occasionally waving them for Sylvie or Loki to gauge their interest. The philosophy seemed to be, if the littles grabbed for it, scooted towards him, or otherwise cooed, the toy was of interest and should be brought outside.

The adult smiled a little bit every time the baby boy nearly fell off the table or got in Thor’s way because of it.

Sylvie picked up on this too, taking one of the rattles Mobius dropped in the small bag and holding it up for Loki.

He screamed with joy and tried to grab at it, just to stick it in his mouth and chew on the rubber pieces of it as Thor re-buttoned his onesie and pulled his tutu back up.

Loki wrapped his fingers around strands of his big brother’s golden hair as he was taken into a big bear hug, still keeping the toy in his mouth, only taking it out to shake it, rattling the colorful plastic beads inside.

Thor brought him up so that Loki’s upper half was higher than his shoulder, with the little’s legs wrapped at his waist.

Outside, the babies sat on a small quilt. Most, if not all of the toys and chewed-up toddler books were familiar. Same barely cushioned dirt ground, and same silly daddy and Thor showering them both with love and affection. However, instead of sitting with them like usual, Mobius stood up on one side of the blanket and took out the bubbles he had teased earlier, spinning the plastic stick around in the soapy fluid and squatted down to blow some soapy bubbles on a comfortable level for them.

Sylvie laid down on her belly, rolling herself up to bat at them and pop a couple. Loki meanwhile, chose to sit upright and clap, trying to squish the bubbles with loud smacks, followed by happy wiggles.

Some low forest wind scooped the bubbles upward, away from the natural grasp of the babies. So, Loki did the only thing he could think to do, and slowly propped himself up, finding his balance and stable footing.

He grabbed at one, popping it, then another, and then he--

“Loki! You can’t eat the bubbles!” Mobius laughed.

Loki grinned and did it again.

“Hey, you keep doing that and we might have to find a new activity,” he warned, slightly more seriously this time.

Loki’s mischievous smile widened even more, and when Mobius blew another breath of bubbles, he tried once more to bite it.

Mobius met eyes with Thor, and gave him a small nod.

In one short movement, Loki was off the ground up in Thor’s arms. He immediately realized that this was not the desired outcome he had hoped for and screeched, thrashing and kicking to be put down. He wasn’t crying yet, just angrily yelling and throwing a tantrum trying to get down and back to his bubbles.

Finally, he got a couple of crocodile tears to slide down his cheeks. That’s when Thor finally offered him some comfort, planting a kiss on his forehead and walking away with the cranky boy.

Thor plopped him down into a plastic seat a few yards away and popped a thin hollow plastic piece into place between Loki’s legs before stepping away.

Loki immediately stopped any sign of struggle or distress and put his fist in his mouth, sucking on the top of his knuckles, curious to see where this was going.

Then, the seat moved and a peep escaped him.

Sylvie got up and wandered to the source of the noise in an awkward baby toddle, holding her daddy’s hand as she did.

“Dah-dee!” Loki screamed.

“Hey princess, what do you think of the big birthday present?” Mobius asked, still keeping Sylvie far out of kicking range as Thor pushed the swing higher.

The little grinned and kicked.

“Is it just like at the park?”

Loki ignored that question, in favor of observing the feeling and his surroundings.

“Should we give Sylvie a turn?” Mobius asked as the second, and possibly smaller headspaced, little clung to him.

Loki considered and crossed his arms, crinkling up his nose.

“Do you want to help me push her? Play big brother for a minute?”

“Umno?”

“That’s funny, but we are going to give Sylvie her turn. It’s her birthday too.” He said, grabbing the plastic rim of the swing underneath Loki’s bottom and slowing it to a stop before picking Loki up from under the thighs and helping Sylvie up in his place.

Thor tested the waters with a tiny push, and a bigger one, and then a huge one! Picking her up so that the bum of the swing was held above his head.

That was enough. She giggled and made a few happy babyish noises as the ropes holding her upright lost and gained tension, creating a weightless feeling.

He came around to the front and pushed her from the soles of her feet.

As Loki watched, he felt as though he should feel a pang of jealousy. She was getting attention, after all. She was having fun. She was a sun, full of happiness while using their shared new swing.

But for once, he didn’t. He was happy that she was happy. He hadn’t even noticed it until Mobius said something: “Are you watching her? Isn’t she interesting?” he teased.

Loki looked back at him. The smile didn’t fade, but he simply became aware of it.

Sylvie heard and took a minute to make a babyish wave down at them.

“Look at her, she’s having her best birthday ever, isn’t she?”

Loki nodded.

“Are you having the best birthday ever, yet?”

Loki burrowed his face in Mobius’ shoulder, creating an awkward hunch, and hugged him tightly.

“Yeah?”

“Mhm!”

“I’ve got an idea if you want to make it even better…”

Loki’s grin widened.

After a bit more playtime, Loki and Sylvie were each led to the nursery for the typical nappy checks and changes. No part of this was an improvement to Loki.

Sylvie sat back on the padded table cushioning, chewing on her pacifier. “S-ing!” she whined.

“We are going to sing,” Mobius reassured her with a smile. “You’re a real smarty-pants. You know that? Hard to believe it’s only your first birthday.”

She pointed outside “Essing!” she tried again.

“Yeah, you like the new swing?” he asked. “I think Loki likes it, too.”

“Mm-- uppansing!” she complained.

“We will, we will. Soon. We’ve got all the time in the world. How about we have some cake first?”

He asked, fully removing her onesie and tutu now.

Loki stood up with this development. “Em-me!” he demanded.

“You next?” Mobius asked.

“Dahdee em-me!”

Mobius unsnapped the little’s onesie and lifted it up, over the tot’s head before having him step out of the tutu. “You’re naked!” he teased.

Loki repeated the word.

Sylvie seemed to mind even less than Loki did, sitting on the floor in just her nappy, and opening up a board book from their shelf as she patiently waited for Loki’s change to be done.

“Do you both know why?”

Neither baby responded.

Mobius tried his best to hide his growing excitement with the surprise.

He secured them both in their highchairs and slid the trays into place as Thor took the large white box out of the fridge.

Thor looked down at it as if it were a briefcase of money he was hiding from the littles, covertly smushing all the green candles he had into its contents.

If Loki wasn’t restrained by the highchair’s shoulder straps, he may have tried to look, himself.

“Wow, look at that,” Mobius said as Thor lifted a beautiful cake out of the box.

It was a light green with darker green and yellow frosting details as well as a big “Happy Birthday Loki and Sylvie!” in big black cursive icing on the top.

He took a lighter and began to light all 30-or-so candles covering it. Even the text was covered. “Are we doing the American birthday song or the Aesir one?”

Thor crinkled up his nose thinking about it. “The Aesir one is going to be too long for the little ones.”

“Alright then. Are you ready? 3…2…1!”

Gently, as the song went on, Mobius raised the cake up in between the highchair trays so that the candles and cake were close in between the littles.

“Go ahead, blow them out!” he encouraged them at the end.

Sylvie spit as she blew. Visibly. But Mobius was pretty used to sharing spit with them, and Thor… was Thor… -- He’d probably eat raw meat off the ground if given the opportunity.

The little girl clapped excitedly, mimicking Thor and bubbling over with sheer babyish glee as she watched Mobius cut and plate two big slices of cake, setting them on the high chair trays without utensils. Then, he cut a smaller one for himself and handed the knife to Thor.

At this point, he had expected them to be knuckle deep in frosting and crumbs, but they patiently waited as if he would do something more.

“You kiddos can dig in,” he said. “We won’t start til you do. “First birthday bite” and all that.”

Loki sat slightly more upright and reached out for him.

Mobius gave a small sigh behind a smile and set down his plate in order to cut off a little bite of cake for Loki with the side of his fork, feeding it to him with the jetski noises included. “I really thought you two were gonna play in it-- …oh.” As he leaned back, away from Loki, he felt something press against his cheek and turned just in time to catch Sylvie in the act of touching him with her yucky, frosting covered fingers.

She grinned and squealed.

“You two never disappoint, do you?”

Loki smirked back at him as he began to pick apart his own slice with his hands now.

As Mobius stepped away to clean himself up, he kept the corner of his eye looking out for the two tots and prepared his cell-phone camera to take lots of pictures of them.

It was pretty safe to say both littles played with their food more than they ate. They would shove a pincer-grasp full, or maybe a small fist, into their mouth and then wipe any excess frosting on themselves, the other little, or the plate. When the other tot was the victim of such an act, it was met with a giggly scream and an attempt of retaliation.

Loki tried first, shoving a small chunk of cake just barely into Sylvie’s mouth. He could hardly reach her from his chair.

Then, it was Sylvie’s turn. She took a small handful and tried to reach over and get him back with the last remanence of cake on her plate… but her reach was too short!

Splat!

The little glob of frosting and cake mush fell from her fingertips and onto the floor in between them.

They bonked their heads together as they both leaned in to look down at it.

Then, Sylvie groaned. The low growl got a little bit louder as she looked up at her caregivers, and then eventually, it became a whine that grew into a cry.

Mobius gave her a sympathetic look, whispered something to Thor, and walked away.

Sylvie gave her best frustrated scream and began a small fit. She was still just a little too small to process that she had an equal amount of cake around her mouth, down her chest, on her arms, and even around her belly button and the waistband of her nappy, stuck to her with buttercream. Daddy just needed to give her more, that would make up for it!

Mobius retrieved something out of the fridge: a small metal container, and shook it up.

Loki may have been bothered by the second little’s fussing if he had not spotted Mobius’ plan.

She pushed on her tray and kicked at the step, while working herself up to a scream.

“Nothing a little more sugar can’t fix,” Mobius chuckled before leaning in and squirting just a little bit of cold whipped cream into her mouth.

Sylvie froze.

“How’s that?”

Loki giggled and opened his mouth wide for some, too.

Sccchhhhh the can hissed.

“Dah-dee silly!” Loki cooed with his mouth still full.

Slowly, a smile crept onto Sylvie’s face. She licked around her lips and babbled something to Thor, who warmly greeted her and asked if she had liked the cake her daddy had bought, as if she was capable of a coherent response.

“Umumam! Mmnumum!” she answered.

Thor grinned at her and set his plate in the sink. “Would you like to tell me more?” he asked, setting his elbows on the little’s tray without heed to the mess she had painted on it with green and yellow colors.

“Aah!” she squeaked with a grin. “Ahbaba!”

“Do you like being all messy like that?”

Sylvie continued to babble back at him as he grabbed a paper towel and began to wipe her face and hands.

“Don’t worry too much about cleaning her up,” Mobius told him, finally getting Loki’s equally-frosting-covered tray removed. “I’m gonna run them a bath.”

“That would be best.” Thor agreed as he realized the amount of cake he was dealing with. It was like none of it had even made it into her mouth.

“Cake!” Sylvie finally managed to spit out as she was removed from her high chair.

“There’s more in there for you,” Mobius reassured her. “You’ll have another piece after dinner tonight, I promise.”

She hummed and stuck her fingers in her mouth as Mobius held her wrist in one hand, and cradled Loki’s bum in the other.

Mobius ran the water warm with some lavender bubble bath and began to wipe down the tots with a washcloth while sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, leaning down to get the messy littles as they sat on the tile floor, playing with their rubber bath toy boats and sea serpents until Mobius had them take turns lying down so he could get them out of their diapers and clean them up to get them ready for the warm water.

Sylvie made an audible sigh as she submerged herself, stretching out underneath the layer of bubbles, only for Loki to plunk himself in after her and rudely demand she share the room.

After the water had been drained, and Mobius was just as sufficiently soaked as they were, he broke the news of what was going to happen next.

“No nap fir birfday!” Loki scoffed.

“Aw, but I’m so sleepy!” Mobius countered, pulling the towel wrapped tot into his lap. “You can’t help daddy go to bed either?”

“Help?” Loki asked cautiously.

“Yeah, you two and Thor just need to help me take a nap. Last night was just too much for daddy.”

The little ones looked at one another and then nodded.

“Tor no tire,” Sylvie mumbled.

“What do you mean ‘Thor’s not tired’? What do you think he’s doing right now?”

Mobius redressed them lovingly and tried to convince them he was taking so long because he was just getting so tired. Loki and Sylvie would giggle in response, especially when Mobius leaned over and “fell asleep” on their tummies after buttoning up their onesies.

Before leaving the bathroom with them, he set their pacifiers into their mouths and velcroed thick, fleece baby booties onto their feet.

Mobius poked his head out the door to tell Thor that they were all done. Then he looked down. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked as Loki tried to crawl past him.

The little one babbled as Mobius picked him up.

“You wanna go see your big brother?”

“I’m coming!” Thor yelled, setting down his video game controller and taking off his headset.

“They’re helping put me to bed,” he explained. “Do you think you could help them read a story?”

“Absolutely!” The god lit up as he said it.

Mobius hopped up onto the ledge of the crib and invited the littles up, too. They had been crawling to help Thor pick a story, and only hesitantly stood in order to climb up and snuggle next to their daddy.

Mobius slid up the bars and gave the two baby littles their bottles before giving Thor the thumbs up to start the story.

For a second, as Thor began to read, there was a wave of peace. Mobius found himself in between two babies who’s bottles hissed gently as they suckled. His arms were tucked around their backs, and in return, they each wrapped their legs around one of his.

Then, Loki opened his eyes and looked up.

“What’s up?” Mobius whispered.

He took the bottle out of his mouth and held it up to Mobius.

The adult grinned “Hey, what’re you--”

“Seepy!” Loki loudly whispered back.

Mobius tried not to chuckle or spit up milk. He simply accepted it and relaxed, letting out a loud sigh and closing his eyes.

When Thor closed the book, Loki decided that Mobius had had enough. He removed the nipple from Mobius’ mouth, taking it back with a little bit still left at the bottom and setting his pacifier in its place.

“Happy birthday, brother.” Thor smiled over the ledge of the crib as he watched the exchange. “Sleep well.”

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